How often do you step out of your comfort zone and try something new? How often do you challenge yourself to learn new skills and expand your capabilities?

Steven Bartlett, a British entrepreneur and podcaster, said: “Growth happens when you start doing the things you’re not qualified to do.” This is a powerful message and one I believe in. And I am going to explore this idea in this blog article and I will share how this has been true for me.

Taking on a new role

Back in 2013 I was a still an inexperienced Toastmaster and had never taken on a leadership role for my Toastmasters club or district. At that time, I had also done only 5 speeches in 3 years. You could say that I was not qualified to be a leader for my club or my district, but that year was when I first stepped out of my comfort zone and took on a leadership role both for my Sundowners Toastmasters club and for my Toastmasters district.

You see, I had stepped up to be secretary for my condo board, and I thought taking on a leadership role for my Toastmasters club would help me to learn how to be an effective secretary for my condo board. So I volunteered to be secretary for the Sundowners Toastmasters club. This led to me attending a Toastmasters Leadership Institute event, which is a training event for officers of Toastmasters clubs.

At this event, the Division A Governor for my Toastmasters district announced that he was looking for volunteers to serve as area governors for his division. This is a leadership role where you support a group of Toastmasters clubs by visiting and evaluating those clubs, running area council meetings with the club officers in your area, and organizing and running area speech contests. When I heard about the opportunity to be an area governor, I thought “that sounds like an important job”, and I volunteered to serve as an area governor.

Now consider where I was at the time as a Toastmaster, and you will know I was not qualified to be an area governor. To serve as an area governor you are supposed to have experience serving as a Toastmasters club officer, ideally as president or vice president of education. I had none of this experience. In fact, I had no Toastmasters leadership experience whatsoever. You could say I was probably the worst choice of candidate for an area governor based on my experience.

However, as Steven Bartlett has said, when you do things you’re not qualified to do you grow as a person. And this was definitely true for me.

A Year of Growth

Serving as area governor for the 2013 to 2014 Toastmasters term was a year of growth for me. I learned new skills and gained confidence in myself. I started doing more speeches and I even organized some speech contests. I also met several people by visiting the clubs in my area, which helped me to become more comfortable when meeting new people. I even gained confidence when it comes to driving long distances on the highway.

In the case of driving, three of the clubs in my area required me to drive for an hour or more on the highway to visit those clubs. This had me driving on the highway more often than I normally would. This helped me to build confidence in driving long distances, and it helped me to be more comfortable visiting other towns and cities. That is also the year I discovered the maps app on my phone, which really makes it easy for me to travel to new places and find where I am going.

In the case of self-confidence, I gained confidence in myself and improved my speaking skills thanks to being an area governor. For example, one of the clubs in my area, the Aimcrier Toastmasters club in St. Albert, Alberta, assumed I was an experienced speaker because I was an area governor. In fact, they invited me to give an educational presentation at their club. This was quite far out of my comfort zone because I had never done a speech outside my own club, let alone a 15-minute educational presentation. However, I did this educational presentation anyway, and it was well received by the Aimcrier club.

Another thing I grew into in my year as area governor was organizing and running area speech contests. Again, this was something I had never done before, but I stepped up and did it anyway. I also had help from Judy, a fellow member of my Sundowners Toastmasters club. I did everything to organize the contest, but I was too afraid to run the contest on the day of the event because I had never done it before, so Judy stepped in and ran the contest for me on the day of the event. Since then, I have organized and run club, area, and division level speech contests. I have even been the contest chair for a district level contest. And it all started because I had the courage to do something I was not qualified to do.

Conclusion

The message I want you take away from this article is that you need to start doing things you are not qualified to do. This is how you learn and grow as a person. It is how you expand your comfort zone and learn new skills.

For me I started a journey of serving as a leader for my Toastmasters club and district, even when I was not qualified to do so. This led me to develop new skills and to gain increased self-confidence. I have also met a lot of great people while serving in these leadership roles.

You can do this too by stepping up to do things you are not qualified to do, both at work, in your personal life, and in your community. Find the courage to step out of your comfort zone and try new things. Your life will change for the better, and who knows what you will accomplish?